Physicist and mathematician Katherine Johnson, as portrayed by Taraji P. Henson in the movie "Hidden Figures." Johnson was key in the effort to send John Glenn into orbit. (Hopper Stone)

Before they were machines based on silicon, "computers" were actually women — though their colleagues would often refer to them as "girls."

The film "Hidden Figures," which opened to wide release Friday and picked up two Golden Globe nominations, tells the story of three black computers who dealt with segregation in the Jim Crow South even as they helped NASA hold its own in the Cold War-fueled space race.

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Inspired by a book on the lives of these women, the movie centers around Katherine G. Johnson, a NASA mathematician from the racially segregated West Computing group at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia. Johnson (portrayed by Taraji P. Henson) played key roles in the flights of astronauts Alan Shepard, the first American in space, and John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth.

Johnson, now 98, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. She answered questions from The Times on her life, the film and her love of numbers.

What was it like to work alongside white colleagues while still living in a segregated community in Virginia?

We always did what we had to do.

When you first started as a computer, did you ever think you would help get the first American, John Glenn, into orbit?

No, I was just excited to have challenging work to do and smart people to work with.

At the time, did you think about the fact that you, Dorothy Vaughan and the other West Computing women were pushing the boundaries of what it meant to be a mathematician, a scientist or an engineer?

We did what we were asked to do to the best of our ability.

Katherine Johnson sits at her desk with a globe known as a celestial training device. The lives of Johnson and other black female mathematicians and engineers are featured in the film "Hidden Figures." (NASA)

What was it that drew you to mathematics?

Numbers.

What were your favorite challenges to work on?

Solving the most difficult problems.

What was it like to work with NASA engineers, particularly in these high-pressure situations?

Exciting. I liked working with smart people.

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Did you ever have to go toe-to-toe with them over the numbers?

After a while, they learned to respect my answers because they were always correct.

What did you think about the movie?

It was well-done. The three leading ladies did an excellent job portraying us.

In the movie, your character is forced to run back and forth to West Computing to use the bathroom. But according to the book, you actually ignored the prohibitions and used the white women's bathroom anyway — and it sounds like no one stopped you. Is there a lesson to be learned in the way you dealt with that particular barrier?

What were we supposed to do? We learned to pick our battles for the greater good.